Chuck vs the 'What the hell is that'
by RinkRatWriter
Summary: Team Bartowski finds out that there's more to what's out there than Chuck ever thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Chuck vs. the "What the hell is that???"**

**by**

**Rink Rat**

**Spoilers:**Everything up to "Chuck vs. the Marlin" to be on the safe side.

**Genre:** Action/Adventure Crossover with Stargate, with a dash of romance (Chuck/Sarah).

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer:** Neither Chuck nor Stargate SG1/Atlantis are mine, but I do own a really neat collection of student loans if someone wants to take those off my hands.

**A/N**: Some familiarity with Stargate will make parts of the story easier to understand. For those who aren't familiar with Stargate, www(dot)gateworld(dot)net is a great place to read up on the basics if interested.

**Trivia:** There is a real life link between Chuck and Stargate Atlantis. Can anyone tell me what it is?

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Chuck was happy, happier than he'd been in some time. Granted, he knew that there were reasons he shouldn't be happy. He wasn't really dating Sarah, he had come a nanometer from being hauled off by Longshore to some padded detention facility, and he had all of the government's secrets still locked securely in his brain. He was just choosing to ignore those facts in the face of an outing with Sarah, and Ellie and Devon, newly engaged and still in their own little world.

"Where's this lecture being held again?" Chuck asked, relishing in the feeling of holding Sarah's hand as he watched Ellie and Devon wander the pathways of UCLA's campus.

"Haines Hall, room 352…it's the Anthropology reading room," Sarah answered with a soft smile. "Thanks for coming to this with me guys."

"I never would have guessed that you had an interest in Anthropology, Sarah," Ellie said lightly over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving Devon.

"Well it's more an interest in linguistics over anthropology," Sarah shrugged . "The lecture itself is about the evolution of language."

"I think it's awesome," Devon tossed out, just like Chuck knew he would.

"Gee Devon, that's a shock," Chuck laughed.

"Careful little bro," Devon said mock-sternly before tossing Chuck a wink over his shoulder.

"Anyway," Sarah interrupted the boys, squeezing Chuck's hand lightly, "Again, I just really appreciate that you guys wanted to spend your days off with me at some lecture. Not everyone would be willing to do that."

"Well, it's no seminar on the latest bleeding edge gaming technology," Chuck said absently, sneaking a peek out of the corner of his eye at Sarah's face. He wasn't disappointed as her eyes narrowed slightly. With a slight smirk he went on playfully, "But it's the company that counts really."

"Right, and that would be so much more interesting to the rest of us," Ellie said before Sarah had a chance to say something similar.

"Awww, you wound me sis," Chuck said, mimicking a shot to the heart. Even though he was having fun, Chuck couldn't stop his mind from flashing back to the feel of the bullets impacting against the vest as Bryce shot him, nor could he stop the shudder that ran through him at the thought. For just a moment his mind twisted in agony as at how much it would tear Ellie apart if she knew her little brother had experienced that. Once again he thought about how maybe it was a good thing that he had to lie to her, at least some of the time. 'Yeah right, Bartowski. Like you'd ever have the stones to think of lying to Ellie as good,' John Casey's voice ran through his head. Since when had John Casey become the little voice in his head? Sure it was better than Morgan, but still…

Shaking off the momentary glum thought, Chuck saw that they were approaching the entrance to a stately old building, one he assumed was Haines Hall, an assumption soon borne out as he saw an old bronze plaque proclaiming "Haines Hall, est. 1929"

"Well I guess we're here," Chuck gestured grandly at the plaque.

"Yes we are," Sarah said with a smile that Chuck noticed was her number three smile, the tight little smile she got when she was focused on a mission but had to show a smile to the world. Uh oh. "Chuck, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," Chuck bit down on his lower lip. What could the CIA possibly want at a lecture on the evolution of language? After a moment's thought Chuck realized that he should feel silly, he should have known something was up when Sarah asked him to invite Ellie and Devon to a day at UCLA. Looking at his sister and her fiancé Chuck forced a blank look onto his face. "You guys go on in, we'll be right behind you."

"Don't be too long," Ellie gently chided. "What room did you say it was again Sarah? Oh never-mind, we'll find it on one of the posters."

"A mission, Sarah?" Chuck whispered as he and Sarah stepped away from the building's entrance to gain a measure of privacy, trying to sound stern but just glad he managed to keep a whine out of his voice. "We're here on a mission? Should I expect Casey to pop out of the bushes too?"

"Well, we're here for a mission as well," Sarah answered, pointedly ignoring the tone Chuck was attempting to take. "I am interested in the lecture, it was just lucky that I found it. And Casey won't be here."

"So, what's the mission?" Chuck asked. "I haven't flashed lately, and I thought the muckety mucks were quiet this week."

"It has nothing to do with the Intersect. Director Graham," Sarah put a subtle stress on the name, ignoring Chuck's small attempt at humor. "wants me to contact one of our assets here on campus. I'll need you to distract Ellie and Devon for a few minutes so I can slip away and make the meeting."

"Right. How?"

"I don't know, you'll think of something," Sarah shrugged, obviously not worried. "Changing the subject however, I've noticed that you haven't been referring to Devon as Captain Awesome lately."

"Was there a question in there?" Chuck teased gently as he reached for the door and looked back at Sarah. "Honestly though, I don't know. I guess now that he's proposed to Ellie and we're going to be family…"

Sarah waited a moment for Chuck to finish the thought before noticing that he had 'that' look on his face. Chuck was flashing. "Oh crap," Sarah whispered. "Chuck? Chuck, what is it."

When Chuck didn't answer right away Sarah looked around to see what could have possibly triggered the flash only to see a few students and some other people, obviously not students, walking towards the building, presumably to attend one of the many lectures being held in Haines Hall.

For what seemed like forever images flashed through Chuck's mind; the great pyramid of Giza, images of classified government files featuring a picture of the man Chuck was staring at, a camel, a picture of the sun, two newspapers with different obituaries for 'Dr. Daniel Jackson'. After they had run their course Chuck felt like falling to the ground just like he always did.

"That guy over there," Chuck burst out, struggling to control his voice as he always did when released from a flash. "He's Doctor Daniel Jackson!"

"Which one?" Sarah started rapidly scanning the people moving towards the building, her hand reaching around for her concealed weapon.

"Tall, short dark hair, glasses," Chuck rattled out rapid-fire. "He's with some guy who looks like he could be his brother, two o'clock, coming in fast."

Seeing the pair Chuck was talking about, Sarah's eyes narrowed as her fingers tightened on her gun. "Fulcrum?"

"No. He's a linguist and an archaeologist, was laughed out of academia years ago only to resurface years later. The FBI has a file on him, so does the CIA. Apparently he's been presumed dead a number of times, only to reappear days, even months later. Neither agency knows why, but a number of his known associates are military and they both suspect some link there."

"Chuck," Sarah sighed with barely contained exasperation, her whole stance relaxing as she released her gun. "He's a linguist. We're going to a linguistics lecture. Does that strike you as odd?"

"Not that no," Chuck answered as he quickly turned his attention to Sarah, trying to avoid the notice of the two people in question. He tried not to laugh as he continued "But Sarah, his file is_ interesting_! He tried telling people that the pyramids were launching pads for spaceships."

"Sounds like just another fringe archaeologist," Sarah interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Come on Chuck, I'm classifying this as a non-threatening flash, and Ellie and Devon are waiting."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks to my wonderful beta, who is not afraid to smack me over the head when I get lazy in my writing.

**Chapter 2**

"Wow," Ellie said as the four of them pushed their way out the doors leading from Haines Hall. "I can't believe how…"

"Boring?" Chuck tossed out with a slight smirk. Try as he might, he just couldn't get into the lecture. Knowing that he had to cover for Sarah while she slunk off to a clandestine meeting with a CIA asset had made him more nervous than usual.

"Interesting," Ellie corrected Chuck with a light punch to his arm before finishing her thought. "Interesting that was, Sarah."

Rubbing his arm Chuck just smiled at Sarah, knowing that his sister would not hesitate to chastise him in public if he were to do anything to embarrass or upset Sarah.

"Well, I realize that it's not for everyone, but thanks again for coming. I never enjoy going to those things alone," Sarah gave Chuck a withering glare before wrapping Ellie in a hug.

"Too bad you missed the bit about the branchings of Sino-Tibetan languages," Devon offered. "That was awesome. I had no idea linguistics was so interesting."

"Now that's a shock," Chuck said hesitantly wrapping an arm around Sarah's waist. "Captain Awesome didn't know about something awesome."

"Are you feeling better?" Ellie asked Sarah before linking arms with Devon.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," Sarah said with a slight tightening to her features shooting a glare at Chuck. Once more the only excuse he could come up with was that she was experiencing problems with her colon.

"Umm, Sarah," Chuck said, a nervous lilt creeping into his voice. "Sarah? Three o'clock."

"What are you talking about Chuck? It's four thirty," Ellie glanced down at her watch and then back up at Chuck in confusion.

Glancing in the direction Chuck indicated Sarah saw two men in dark suits wearing sunglasses. Definitely government issue. "You know, I just remembered that an old friend of mine recently got an associate professorship here. I think I'd like to look her up while we're on campus," Sarah casually placed herself between Chuck and the two men who were now moving in their direction.

"Oh," Ellie got a small downcast look at Sarah's words. "Well we can do dinner another time."

"We shouldn't be too long," Sarah's eyes were moving even while she answered Ellie, checking to see if there were any other agents in the area. Chuck also scanned the area, craning his head left and right in a very unsubtle manner.

"What's up bro?" Devon asked, noticing Chuck's rapidly moving head.

"Umm, I slept funny last night. The neck's bothering me a little," Chuck forced his attention back onto Ellie and Devon.

"Dude, I know this awesome chiropractor down at the hospital. She does amazing work in the rehab unit. I can get you in to see her if you want."

"Sure, that'd be great Devon. Okay, we'll see you guys back at home," Chuck sputtered as Sarah grabbed his arm and pulled him off in the direction of another old university building. Once out of earshot of the couple Chuck pulled his arm away from Sarah and looked over his shoulder at her. "Good thing we came in separate cars."

"Yeah, good thing," Sarah answered absently as she ushered Chuck towards the building. "Find an empty classroom and lock the door."

"What? Empty classroom? Sarah?"

"Chuck, we don't have time for this. Without Casey I can't make sure of your safety if you're in the open," Sarah surreptitiously pulled her concealed gun and pulled the slide back. "Now go inside."

Opening the door to the building, Chuck stepped through and turned to watch Sarah through the windows on the door. "At least it's not a car," he muttered sarcastically.

Not bothering to find a classroom to lock himself into, Chuck continued to watch Sarah move away from the building toward the middle of the quad. He could see the two men in suits move toward her, but oddly neither one had a weapon drawn. Maybe they were good guys too. After making sure Sarah's attention was on the approaching agents, Chuck pushed the door open and closed it quietly behind him as he once more moved outside. Looking around he saw some bushes off to his right and ducked into them in what he felt was a very stealthy manner. The two agents continued to close on Sarah, but neither slowed.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Chuck heard Sarah ask as the two men in dark suits got close to her.

Without breaking stride the two agents went around Sarah, with the one on the right saying "Excuse us, miss."

"Well that was odd," Chuck muttered with a frown. The bad guys don't normally ignore them. Hell, guys in general don't normally ignore Sarah, good or bad.

Watching the action unfold, Chuck saw Sarah turn and cock her head to the side in obvious confusion. The two men in suits approached a pair of men standing with their backs to them.When the two new men turned around Chuck gave a soft "Ohhh" as he recognized the linguist he'd flashed on earlier.

"Hands where we can see them Doctor, Colonel," the agent who'd spoken to Sarah said in a menacing tone.

"What's with you NID goons? I'm sorry…are you still going by 'the Trust'?" Doctor Jackson asked with contempt in his voice, visibly unconcerned that two men in dark suits had just given him a command.

"They're not very trustworthy really, so that name doesn't really fit, does it Jackson?" the man with Doctor Jackson asked, equally undisturbed.

"Very funny, Colonel," the agent who'd spoken responded.

"Well, he's the linguist. I'm just a pilot. It makes sense to appeal to the authority on the matter. So what's your ruling Jackson?"

"I think they were pretty stupid to only send two of them," Doctor Jackson shrugged with a slight smile as if he knew something.

"Nice try Doctor, but we know that the rest of SG-1 is currently back in Colorado."

"Never said anything about the rest of SG-1 with us, but you don't really want to do this in front of witnesses, do you?" Doctor Jackson tried to look innocent. Looking past the agent he smiled, "Hello."

"Hi," Sarah said brightly, her hands held behind her back. With a mindless giggle she added, "Do you know where the Haines building is? I'm supposed to meet my boyfriend there and I'm so late."

When Sarah spoke the goon who had done all the talking so far spun around to face her, while his partner continued to watch Doctor Jackson and the man they'd referred to as 'Colonel'. "Miss, I think you should go somewhere else. Now."

"Well, sorry buddy, I just wanted to know if you knew where the Haines place was."

When Sarah started to talk again the man beside Doctor Jackson struck out, his fist connecting with the agent's jaw. As soon as the attack happened Sarah leapt into action, spinning around to deliver a roundhouse kick that had the agent talking to her down on the ground.

"How's that for a little Sodan lovin!" the Colonel called out tauntingly, watching the agent he'd attacked drop to the ground beside his comrade.

"Really, Cam, do you have to keep bringing that up? Yes, you trained with the Sodan, we get it," Doctor Jackson rolled his eyes. Turning his attention back to Sarah, Doctor Jackson smiled slightly, "Thanks for your help miss, but we could have handled it."

Dropping to one knee Sarah patted the agent she'd knocked out down until she found his wallet. Pulling it out she flipped it open, revealing a picture idea emblazoned with NID. Looking up at the two men still standing she chewed on her lip for a moment before asking "NID? Okay, what's going on here?"

"I don't think you need to worry about that miss," Doctor Jackson said as he politely offered her a hand to help her rise to her feet again.

"Believe me when I say I'm very serious when I ask one more time. Gentlemen, what's going on here?"

Before Doctor Jackson could answer her, the man he had called Cam tapped him on the shoulder before raising his hands slightly to show that his hands were empty. "I'd answer her questions Jackson."

Glancing at Cam, Doctor Jackson followed his gaze and spotted the concealed gun that Sarah pointed at them.

Jumping out of the bushes Chuck ran towards Sarah calling out, "Sarah. Sarah! Whoa Sarah, they're not the bad guys."

"Yeah, we're not the bad guys," Cam said at the same time Chuck ran up beside Sarah. Gesturing at the two agents on the ground he added "They're the bad guys."

"Who are you guys?" Sarah asked, her weapon still drawn.

"He's Laurel, and I'm Hardy," Cam answered with a slight smirk.

"That's Doctor Jackson," Chuck supplied helpfully, fully aware that Sarah remembered the man from when he'd flashed earlier.

"And I'm Colonel Mitchell, but please, call me Cam," Cam said with a smile in Sarah's direction. Chuck had to give the man points; it wasn't everyone who would try to flirt with someone holding a gun on him.

"Sarah," Sarah introduced herself tersely.

When Cam looked at Chuck expectantly, it took Chuck a moment to realize that Cam was waiting to find out who he was. "Umm, I'm Chuck," Chuck muttered, flustered. He'd probably catch hell from Sarah for that later; sometimes he wondered if his name would become a state secret.

"Look, as much as I'd love to get to know you two, chances are these jokers aren't alone, and we don't really want to be around when they wake up," Cam gestured at the two unconscious agents. "Would you mind putting that away?" he asked looking pointedly at Sarah's gun.

"They're not the bad guys Sarah," Chuck repeated, his head swiveling between Cam and Sarah. "And just so you know - I'm starting to freak out here."

After a moment's thought, she visibly relaxed and holstered her gun behind her back again, taking a moment to make sure her light jacket fell properly over the weapon to re-conceal it.

"He sure says your name a lot," Cam remarked with a smirk, his eyes never leaving hers.

As much as he hated himself for it, Chuck felt the heat of jealousy rise up inside him. He and Sarah weren't dating, not really. Why should he care if another guy looked at her like that? She'd said they would never have a chance. And then she'd laid that earth moving kiss on him. Damn it, why couldn't he get his heart back from her?

Shrugging, Sarah chose to ignore the comment and looked around. "Those two won't be out for long. Why don't we all just walk away?"

"Like it never happened," Doctor Jackson agreed.

As the two moved away from where he and Sarah stood, Chuck felt a hand clamp onto his ankle. A quick tug had Chuck falling to the ground before his brain even processed what was happening, and an arm quickly slipped around his neck.

"I don't think so, Doctor Jackson," the man now holding Chuck called out as he stood, dragging Chuck with him. A moment later Chuck felt the unmistakable pressure of a gun being shoved into his back, something he wished he'd never learned the feeling of. "Be so kind as to stand there."

In an instant Sarah had her gun back out, trained on the man behind Chuck. Only a second behind the sound of her gun being loaded, Cam and Doctor Jackson both had some kind of weird gun pointing at the man as well. Dangerous situation aside, Chuck couldn't help but stare at their guns and whistle. "I think I saw something like that in a demo of a new game," Chuck said with curiosity heavy in his voice.

"Let him go," Sarah demanded, steel in her voice.

"That won't be happening until Doctor Jackson agrees to come with me."

"Sarah?" Chuck didn't even bothering to try and keep the panic from his voice.

"Yeah Chuck?"

"I'm long past starting to freak out."

"I know Chuck. I'll get you out of this, don't worry," Sarah's voice remained calm and level, even though Chuck could see a hint of panic in her eyes. Hopefully the bad guy didn't know what to look for. "Listen buddy, you don't want to do this. Let him go and you can walk away."

Behind him, Chuck heard what he could have sworn was Casey's number six grunt, annoyance laced with a heavy dose of skepticism. And even though he knew Casey was at the Buy More, the arm across his neck was the only thing that kept him from looking around for the NSA agent. "I don't like repeating myself miss. But I will this once. Doctor Jackson agrees to come with us, the geek goes free."

Chuck could tell Sarah was getting frustrated with the stand-off, and he couldn't blame her. He was getting pretty tired of being in situations like this as well. "Hey Sarah?" he called out, trying to ignore the way the man's arm tightened at Chuck's speech.

"Yes Chuck?"

"Why does this crap happen to me? Even when we're supposed to be having fun? Can I have a holiday or something?"

"I don't know how well that would fly Chuck."

"Could we at least ask or something?"

"Sure."

"What do you think, Jackson? Worth the risk?" Cam asked suddenly.

"No way around the kid. We'll have to hit em both at once."

"I'll do it," Cam volunteered, his grip tightening on his strange looking weapon.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah demanded, her attention shifting to Cam.

Suddenly Chuck saw bright blue bolts of electrical energy shooting toward him from Cam's weapon and then his whole body was on fire. As the world started to go black around him he felt someone punch him in the back.

The last thing he heard was Sarah screaming his name.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Sorry about how short this one is, and the wait for it. I was going in a completely different direction when I decided I didn't like it at all and had to do a rewrite. 3 and 4 will be fairly short, but will lead to the action quicker.

**A/N 2**: I had a response on the trivia about the connection between Chuck and Stargate...Adam Baldwin indeed has worked on both shows. There is another connection, an _Awesome_ connection if you will. Ryan McPartlin (the Captain himself) was a guest on North Shore, the very same show that had Jason Momoa (Ronan Dex) tending bar in a very fashionable patterned shirt.

**Chapter 3**

Chuck's body was on fire. Or there were millions of ants crawling all over his skin. He wasn't really sure which analogy was more apt, however he knew it hurt. And it was driving him crazy. Maybe he was on fire and there were a million ants crawling all over his body. Distantly he could hear voices, yelling, babbling. It sounded like they were coming from under water. Or he was underwater. Why the hell couldn't he make up his mind on things? He tried to tell the voices to shut up and leave him alone, but nothing came out. He tried to make his hands and feet work, but they wouldn't respond. Blind panic soon followed as Chuck wondered if he was paralyzed. As soon as he thought about being paralyzed he felt his fingers clench into fists and his toes try to do the same thing. Okay, not paralyzed. Slowly regaining control of his body, Chuck realized he was lying on his stomach with someone pushing down on his lower back. Prying his eyes open he saw neatly manicured grass. With a groan he tried to lever his arms underneath his torso so he could push himself up.

"Whoa! Chuck, no!" Sarah called out. Chuck felt better about things just hearing her voice. "Don't move."

"Okay," he agreed as his body spasmed in pain. "Not moving now." Was he lying on a landmine? Was someone pointing a gun at his head? Out of nowhere Chuck longed for the boring non-threat-filled days before the Intersect. Right on the heels of that thought he took it all back. Pre-Intersect was pre-Sarah. Attempting to draw a breath, Chuck winced at the sudden wave of pain that washed through him. "Sarah?"

"Yeah, Chuck?"

"What's going on? Why am I on fire?"

"On fire?" Sarah sounded confused. Chuck wished he could look at her, but so far all he got was grass. "What's he talking about?"

"Right, yeah," a familiar voice that Chuck couldn't immediately place said. "That's a side effect of the…experimental weapon. It will fade in time. Hey kid, welcome to the club!"

Right, now Chuck could place the voice. Colonel Mitchell. "What happened?"

"Cam and Daniel had to shoot you with their experimental weapons in order to incapacitate the NID agent," Sarah said calmly. "Cam, can you put pressure here? Thanks."

Chuck felt the pressure on his lower back lighten and then increase again. Sarah moved into Chuck's limited line of sight and crouched down in front of him, reaching out to lightly touch his shoulder with a small, sad smile. Taking comfort in that little contact Chuck tried to nod into the grass. "Okay. Why can't I move again?"

"As the agent was going down he shot you. In the back," Chuck could hear the tension in Sarah's voice. This couldn't be good.

"Okay, but I'm wearing a vest," Chuck had thought Sarah's insistence that he wear a vest to a college campus was silly at the time.

"All it does is slow the bullet down at that range kid," Cam said, trying to sound gentle.

"He's right Chuck. The bullet still penetrated the vest."

"Why do I get the feeling that isn't good news?" Chuck asked with a sigh. It sounded like this was going to be one of those "Not-so-good –for-Chuck" things.

"As far as we can tell, the bullet is still inside you Chuck," Sarah answered softly.

"Oh."

"Oh?" Sarah repeated, shock sneaking into her tone.

"Yeah, oh," Chuck said, just as another burst of pain caused him to moan.

"You're not normally so cavalier about things like this."

"I'll freak out later when it doesn't hurt so much," Chuck whimpered.

"Casey would be proud of you," Sarah whispered, giving Chuck's back a little rub just as footsteps came thumping toward where they were spread out.

"Doc's on her way," Doctor Jackson said from somewhere above Chuck.

"Which one?" Cam asked.

"Keller."

"What's she doing here?"

"No idea, but she is. How's he doing?"

"The blast from the…experimental weapon seems to be helping with the pain."

"It makes sense," a new female voice said briskly, "the blast would have overloaded his nervous system. However that means he's feeling more pain as we sit here talking and his nervous system recovers."

Chuck felt someone rip the Velcro tabs of his vest and reach underneath, probing his back. "What can you tell me?" the new woman asked.

"Close range, nine mill," Cam answered. "As far as we can tell the bullet did not exit. We haven't been able to do much to slow the blood loss."

For a second all Chuck could focus on was the phrase "blood loss". Blinking his eyes a couple times he saw what appeared to be a large black backpack dropped to the grass out of the corner of his eye. The backpack was ripped open to reveal a well stocked medical bag.

"Any allergies?" the woman asked as she started pulling things from the bag.

"Crappy bands," Chuck grunted and after a moment's thought added "and blood loss."

"What?" the woman asked, her hands stilling in the bag.

"I'm allergic to crappy bands and losing my blood. Do you have any idea the devastating effect both have on someone's body?"

"Any _medical_ allergies," the woman asked, a smile carrying through in her tone.

"No." Sarah answered for Chuck.

"Good," the woman said as Chuck felt a sharp stab in his arm followed by the faint sound of cracking plastic or glass. The pressure on Chuck's back was removed as he felt something sticky tear away from his skin. "That's something for the pain that's certain to be getting worse. Now, let's get this out of the way so we can get the wound covered and then we'll have him transported…"

"Local medical is on the way," Cam added quickly.

"But," the woman protested.

"No buts Doc. _Local_ medical," Cam's tone took on a hard edge.

Chuck's eyelids were getting heavy, probably from the painkillers he thought. He felt Sarah's hand shift on his back and realized that she hadn't broken contact with him once since he'd woken up. "Sarah?" he breathed out.

"Chuck?"

"Don't leave me."

"I won't."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Umm...hi. It's been a while. But here's chapter 4. Please keep in mind...not a doctor. I know some doctors. A fair number of nurses, quite a few physios and ATs, even a massage therapist or two. But me? I'm a computer nerd. So...if you don't recognize the name of any drugs mentioned below...ummm...I made them up (I think).

A/N 2: I know it's short. I was originally going to have a longer chapter, but decided that I wanted to start 5 with what was going to be in the second half of this chapter.

**Chapter 4**

"Ummm, Doctor?" Chuck heard Sarah say hesitantly. He didn't like it when she hesitated...it meant she was beyond worried.

"Sarah?" Chuck tried to ask, the word sticking in his throat as he was hit by a huge wave of pain. He decided that groaning might be the best course of action; his body decided that coughing was more the order of the day. Closing his eyes he tried to battle his way through the pain.

"Doctor! He's coughing up blood!" Sarah cried, obviously fighting panic.

"Crap. I'm sorry Colonel, local medical won't make it in time. We've got to go now!" Chuck heard the doctor say sternly.

"Grandma said there'd be days like this," Cam muttered. "Alright, but if Landry decides to take heads over this, I'm hiding behind you Doc."

"Daedelus, this is Keller. My medical emergency requires immediate transportation to the infirmary for two. Tell them to prep for GSW and lung perforation."

"Four," Cam corrected. "The kid took the bullet because of us. And Landry will want to talk to the good Doctor here."

"Five," Sarah said softly.

"That would be a no. Four," Cam said firmly. "Sorry miss, but you can't go where this ride ends up."

"Then that man is not going anywhere," Sarah said just as firmly. "He doesn't leave my sight."

"I really am sorry Sarah, but if we don't go, he dies. But if we go, you can't go. National security, I'm sure you understand being that you're CIA."

"My national security trumps your national security," Sarah snapped out. "You aren't going anywhere with..."

"Screw this," the doctor muttered. "Deadelus, make that five. Now!"

Chuck was pretty sure it was the pain, or maybe whatever the female doctor had stuck him with, but he could see a bright white light, even through his eyelids. From an analytical standpoint he was somewhat intrigued at knowing what it felt like to undergo traumatic blood loss. Too bad he wouldn't be able to talk to anyone about it.

"Get a monitor on him, and get me two cc's of hydropryaline. Get Doctor Granger down here, we're going to have to open him up and I want a thoracic surgeon to do the heavy lifting. Let's move like we've got a purpose people!" the doctor called out as soon as the white light faded from Chuck's closed eyes.

***

"He'll be fine Agent Walker, but he needs his rest. Is there anything I can get one of the nurses to bring you?"

"Wait...you're not going to argue with me about staying with him?"

"Around here we're used to it. You stay with those you care about."

"Or as my grandma used to say, 'You dance with the one that brought you.'"

"Colonel, _you_ can find somewhere else to be. I don't see anyone from your team here."

"Oh come on Carolyn,"

"Don't 'Carolyn' me. Out."

"It's okay Chuck, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. You've got to wake up though, you'd love it here. Wake up Chuck...Casey's getting worried, and you know how angry he gets when he's worried. His calm center is being damaged. Just wake up. I...we...oh Chuck, just please wake up."

***

"Why hasn't he woken up yet?"

"I hate to say it, but I'm not sure. But I think it might have something to do with this."

"What's that?"

"It's a graphical representation of his brainwaves. While not the strangest readings I've seen, they are far from baseline."

"Doctor, you cannot show those to anyone."

"I'm sorry Agent Walker, but these will be going into the patient's file. However, you don't need to worry. Nothing here gets shared with anyone."

"The Doctor is correct Agent Walker. Your partner's files will be sealed; we are not in the habit of sharing around here."

"Thank you General."

"So Agent Walker. Why don't we go up to my office and have a little talk about you and your friend here."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Yes, I am still alive...and I still have this thing rattling around in my braincage, as well as Shoebox. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything out for those interested.

**Chapter 5**

"So, Agent Walker. I don't suppose you would like to fill me in on those abnormal brainwave patterns Doctor Lam was referring to?" General Landry asked as he sat down behind his desk.

"I'm not a neurologist General," Sarah said evasively as she slowly sat down in the chair facing the large desk, her eyes drawn to the various unit patches and pictures hanging on the wall.

"No, I don't expect you are, but let's put our cards on the table. You were not surprised to see what Carolyn showed you; which means that young man is more than he appears."

"Much more," Sarah whispered softly. "General, until I have received permission from my superiors, I am afraid I will be unable..."

"General?" a disembodied voice spoke from the phone on the desk. "I have a General Beckman on line six."

"Speak of the devil," General Landy said with a little smile. Reaching out he punched a button on the phone. "Louisa, it's been a long time. I've got your Agent Walker with me."

"It has Hank. We'll have to get together for drinks next time you're out at the Pentagon," General Beckman's voice sounded over the speaker phone. "Agent Walker, please report."

"General, Chuck is currently recovering from surgery to repair the damage of a GSW. The doctors are not sure why he has not regained consciousness, and they have done some brainwave scans which have highlighted Mr. Bartowski's...unusual nature."

"Hmmm," General Beckman mused. "Hank, I'm sorry...I never expected my people to be on your playground. And knowing the asset, once he wakes up..."

Sarah let a small smile play across her lips as she thought about how jazzed Chuck would be if he could see where they were. A secret military base located under a mountain.

"Agent Walker, there have been some developments while you have been away. I will need you to contact Major Casey to discuss those developments and plan your response. That will be all Agent."

Trying to keep the frown off her face, Sarah nodded politely to General Landry and then excused herself. As she was closing the door she heard General Beckman say "Hank, let's be upfront here. I'll show you mine if you show me yours. I have executive level authorization."

Looking around, Sarah tried to remember how to get back to the elevators so she could return to Chuck.

"Agent Walker?" the voice that had spoken from General Landry's speakerphone asked. Turning quickly, Sarah saw a shorter bespectacled man wearing the insignia of an Air Force Chief Technical Sergeant on his uniform.

"Chief?"

"Walter Harriman, ma'am. If you'll follow me this way, I'll get you back to the infirmary."

"Thanks, Walter."

As they were passing through the halls Sarah couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be a lot of security force soldiers posted at various positions. A lot more than she would expect, even for a secret base hidden under a mountain. Mentally shrugging her shoulders, Sarah followed Walter through the twisting hallways until they reached the elevators. Walter pushed the button Sarah assumed was for the level with the infirmary on it and let her thoughts turn back to Chuck, only to have them jerked back to the here and now when a piercing klaxon sounded followed by a voice on the PA announcing "Unauthorized offworld activation!"

"What the hell?" Sarah asked, her eyes wide.

"Ummm," Walter said, his eyes equally wide. "Crap?"

"Crap?" Sarah asked. "What in the world is that Walter?"

Watching the numbers scroll down, Walter chewed on his bottom lip. "I'm afraid I can't answer that question ma'am. However I am sure the General will be joining you shortly."

"You can't answer my question?"

"No ma'am. You have not yet been cleared for that information. As I said though, the General will most likely be joining you shortly and answer, well, most of your questions."

Forcing down her frustration at Walter's non-answer, Sarah looked up and watched as the scrolling numbers slowed. As the doors opened, Walter stuck an arm out to hold them open. "You want to take a right, go down to the next junction, take a left and then another left. You'll be at the infirmary."

"Thank you Walter," Sarah said politely with a smile. Stepping out of the elevator she followed Walter's directions and soon found herself back at the infirmary. Stepping through the doors, she looked around and began to move back to the bed Chuck was on, only to stop short when she saw the petite brunette nurse who was standing over the bed checking Chuck's vitals. Automatically Sarah's eyes catalogued the nurse as soon as she saw that she was a brunette. It was always brunettes. Blowing out a frustrated sigh, Sarah closed the distance to the bed, forcing a pleasant smile on her face.

"So, how's my guy doing?" Sarah asked brightly.

Reaching out, the nurse pushed some of Chuck's curls back from his forehead and turned to Sarah with a smile. "Oh he's doing just fine. It looks like he's sleeping normally now and his vitals are normal..."

The nurse trailed off as the monitors attached to Chuck showed an increasing heart rate. His eyes began to flutter softly and then slowly opened as he looked around for something. Seeing Sarah his search stopped and he struggled to smile. "Sarah," he whispered softly.

"Hey Chuck," Sarah returned his smile. "It's good to see you awake."

"Doctor Lam," the nurse called across the infirmary. "The patient is awake."

Glancing up at the nurse Chuck, smiled at her and then returned his attention to Sarah. "What happened?"

"You were shot Chuck," Sarah said softly, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. "But you're going to be just fine."

"Alright, let's see what we have here," the Doctor Lam said in a business like tone, stepping up to the bed her head down over the clipboard holding Chuck's chart.

As soon as he saw Doctor Lam, Chuck's eyes rolled back and he began to quiver a little. Seeing this, Sarah sighed softly. What a time for a flash.

"Doctor!" the brunette nurse gasped. "He's seizing!"

"What?" Doctor Lam barked, "Get the kit over here now"

"No wait!" Sarah called as the nurse ran off and the rest of the infirmary began a controlled whirlwind of chaos. "Wait! It's not a seizure!"

"Agent Walker, I know a seizure when I see one, and this is most definitely a seizure," Doctor Lam said briskly.

With a gasp Chuck snapped out of the flash. "Oh wow," he said softly. "Ahh...Carolyn...I mean Doctor Lam, I'm fine..."

"How?" Doctor Lam said, her eyes widening. Stepping up she flashed her penlight into Chuck's eyes.  
"Pupil reaction is normal. What's going on here?"

Sarah sighed, catching Chuck's addressing the doctor by name, even if no one else did. He had been unconscious and there was no way he would know who was who in the infirmary. "That's classified doctor."

"I don't give a damn about classified. I have a patient who apparently had a seizure you tell me is not a seizure, and he's sitting here like nothing happened. And how does he know who I am?"

Okay, Sarah thought. Maybe she did catch it. "I'm sorry doctor, I can't reveal that..."

The sound of the door opening at the far end of the infirmary cut Sarah off. "Yes you can Agent Walker," General Landry said. "But not here. Carolyn, is Mr. Bartowski well enough to move?"

"I don't know," Doctor Lam said with frustration in her voice. "I haven't examined him since he woke up."

"Do so. Get him into a wheelchair and up to the briefing room," the General said, his expression thoughtful. "Walter? Walter where are you?"

"Sir," Walter said, stepping into the infirmary. "SG-1 will be available for the briefing in ten minutes."

"Get...damn it Walter! Don't do that!" General Landry snapped as he strode back out of the infirmary.

"Agent Walker. You and Mr. Bartowski will be required in the briefing room in ten minutes," Walter said as he turned to follow the General.

With a put upon sigh, Doctor Lam turned to look down at Chuck. "How do you feel Mr. Bartowksi?"

"Please, call me Chuck. Where am I?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

As Doctor Lam was giving Chuck a once over, Sarah remembered General Beckman's order concerning Casey. "Chuck, I'll be right back. I need to get in touch with Casey."

"Say hi for me," Chuck said with a smile as he listened to what Doctor Lam was asking him. "Eight. You're holding up eight fingers. Oh and you have one thumb visible."

"Eight?" Doctor Lam asked with concern in her voice as Sarah pulled out her phone and hit #2 on the speed dial.

"Well, four on that hand, and your other hand has a pen in it, but I can still see it, so yeah. Eight fingers and one thumb...well one and a half really. I can sort of see your other thumb around the pen," Chuck answered and Sarah could swear she heard the wink in his voice.

"Casey, secure. Where the hell are you Walker?" John's tone was even more gruff than usual.

"Walker, secure. We're in a secure military installation in Colorado," Sarah said as she moved away from where Chuck and Lam were still talking. "Chuck was shot and we required an immediate med-evac."

"All the way to Colorado? Couldn't find a closer hospital good enough for your boy? Nevermind, I don't want to know. We have a problem Walker. There's a ton of suits sniffing around the Buymore asking about Chuck. I don't recognize them, but they're flashing NID badges. What's your read on that?"

"NID? The guys who shot Chuck were NID, but Daniel referred to them as the Trust...from what I saw, they aren't clean Casey. NID is small time, but maybe Fulcrum got some men in there? I'm not sure John, but whatever they're up to can't be good if they're trying to find Chuck. We're going to need to keep him away from there for a while."

"Hmph. Good thing you're three states over then. Who the hell is Daniel? You know what, nevermind again. Keep an eye on the kid and I'll keep an eye on these clowns. Beckman's already had her trolls plant a bogus request for Chuck to attend management training at Buymore home office, so you won't have to worry about Big Mike. Just make sure the idiot phones his sister and tells her something so she doesn't come around here looking for him."

Before Sarah could respond Casey had ended the call. Shaking her head softly, she turned and moved back towards Chuck's bed as he was settling into a wheelchair the brunette nurse had brought over. Seeing the smile the nurse was giving Chuck, Sarah stifled a snarl and stepped up with a tight smile and said "I'll drive him."

In a matter of minutes, Doctor Lam had led them to a large briefing room where Sarah saw Daniel and Cam sitting at the equally large table along with a large black man with a strange gold tattoo on his forehead, a dark haired woman wearing unmarked utilities and General Landry.

"Agent Walker, Mr. Bartowski, thank you for joining us. You've already met Colonel Mitchell and Doctor Jackson. This is Teal'c and Vala. This is Agent Walker and Charles Bartowski."

"A pleasure Agent Walker, Charles Bartowski," the man the General had named Teal'c said with a deep and solemn sounding voice.

"Well he's cute, in a young and innocent way," Vala said with a predatory smile. Sarah suppressed the urge to reach for the sidearm she knew she didn't have on her at the moment.

Looking up to return the greeting, Chuck's eyes rolled up for a moment as another flash hit him. "Woah. It's nice to meet you Teal'c, Vala...and it's Chuck, not Charles."

"Very well Chuck Bartowski," Teal'c said, inclining his head gracefully.

"No no...just Chuck," Chuck said quickly.

Just from the tone of his voice Sarah could tell that Chuck was bursting to say something, but she didn't know what. With a smile she helped Chuck move to a chair at the table and then sat down beside him. Reaching under the table she grabbed his hand in hers and gave it a slight squeeze. "Well General, we're here."

"Yes you are," General Landry said. "And I think it's time we all put our cards on the table so to speak. I spoke to General Beckman and she told me to tell you that she's authorized you to fill me in on your project, authorization code Delta-Seven-Niner-Charlie-Six."

Sarah felt Chuck tense up as another flash hit him and she couldn't help but worry that so many flashes in such a short period of time after being in surgery was going to affect him somehow. "What is it Chuck?" she asked trying to mask her concern.

"What's wrong with him?" Cam asked at the same time as Doctor Lam began to swear softly about seizures again.

"Nothing," Sarah said quickly to stop Doctor Lam from checking Chuck out. "Chuck?"

"The code's good, it's in the..." Chuck made a vague gesture at the side of his head. "I guess we can tell them."

With a sigh, Sarah looked at each of the people sitting around the table. "What I am about to tell you has been classified to the highest level," Sarah began in a professional tone.

"What hasn't been around here?" Cam whispered to Daniel.

"This does not leave this room, not just because it's classified but because Chuck's life depends on it. After 9-11, I am sure you're aware the government authorized a cross-agency database with the goal of combining all intelligence information gathered by any agency."

"Sure, but so what?" Cam asked with a snort. "No offense, but you intelligence types don't share, it's what keeps you in work."

"Well, in this case there was sharing. All of the information was placed in a computer dubbed 'The Intersect'. That computer was destroyed almost two years ago...and the information..."

"Is in me," Chuck said with a sigh.

"Excuse me?" Cam said. Shooting a look at General Landry, he turned back towards Sarah when it was clear the General wasn't going to say anything. "Is in him?"

"Chuck is...well, he's one in a billion," Sarah began. She couldn't help thinking that it wasn't just because of the Intersect, either.

"I have an almost photographic memory and pretty much perfect visual processing. The data was encoded into images, which I...inadvertently was exposed to. Visual, and later, audio, cues allow me to recall the data."

"Steganography," Daniel said with a knowing nod.

"So this is real?" Cam asked, disbelief heavy in his voice.

"Very," Daniel said softly. "And amazing. I don't know if anyone ever thought to combine steganography with eidetic memory before. Wow."

"You're telling me," Chuck said with a snort. "Try living through a flash and tell me how 'wow' it is."

"So those seizures?" Doctor Lam asked.

"Aren't seizures," Chuck nodded. "They're what I call 'flashes'...I'm accessing the data that was in the Intersect."

"So that explains the expanded brain functions," Doctor Lam said thoughtfully.

"Expanded brain functions?" Daniel perked up. "As in?"

"No...at least I don't think so," Doctor Lam answered thoughtfully. "Although it may be possible."

"Okay," Sarah said briskly. "Now I'm confused."

"Well, you've shown us yours. I guess it's time for us to show you ours," General Landry said as he stood up and moved over to a large metal blast shield on the wall to the side of the table. Pushing a button the large shield began to slide up into the ceiling. As the blast shield completed its upwards motion a large room was revealed housing a large metallic ring.

As soon as Chuck saw the ring he went through another, very long flash. When he snapped out of it he looked at the ring, then looked at Teal'c and Vala and then back at the ring. "Holy crap! It IS true...you're aliens and that thing goes to other planets?"


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Just a short chapter; I'm planning for some action in the next couple chapters.

**Chapter 7**

Chuck sighed as he pushed back from the computer desk he was sitting at. Three weeks...he couldn't believe that he had been at a top secret military base under a mountain that had a gateway to a controlled wormhole that took teams to other planets for three weeks. While that in and of itself was pretty...awesome, the fact that Daniel had helped him learn to use his eidetic memory to unlock a talent for translating written languages made it a very cool trip. And the fact that he was able to help Daniel with translations of Ancient was definitely awesome.

"Well now tall, curly and brainy, you look like you could use a massage," a low and sultry voice said from just inside the doorway to the empty research lab that Daniel had managed to convince Landry to put Chuck in. Surprised, Chuck spun his chair just a little too hard and ended up sprawled on the floor looking up at Vala.

"Va...la...uhhh...hi," Chuck said as he scrambled up from the floor. "You guys are back."

"So nice of you to notice," Vala crooned as she pushed off from the wall and stalked towards Chuck. "Let me help you up, maybe kiss your boo boo better."

"Uhhh...no...thanks, I'm good," Chuck stammered. He _really_ needed to talk to Daniel about how to deal with the sultry alien. She didn't seem to understand the meaning of the word 'no', no matter how many times Chuck said it. In fact, Chuck was pretty sure that Vala could give Carina lessons in being bull headed and lusty.

"You certainly are...and tasty to boot. I just don't know why Blondie keeps ignoring your needs," Vala said as she slid an arm around Chuck's waist. Reaching up with her free hand, Vala began to trace a slow circuit down the front of his chest with a single finger. "A man like shouldn't have to suppress your needs...your...wants...your...._desires._"

Before Chuck could do more than stammer out the beginnings of a response he heard a forced cough from the doorway. Turning sharply, Chuck couldn't help the wave of relief that washed over him when he saw Daniel standing there with his arms across his chest.

"Vala, leave the poor guy alone. He's not one of your playthings," Daniel said with exasperation heavy in his voice.

"Oh but Daniel," Vala pouted. "You're still ignoring me and he's just so cute, not to mention the adorable shade of red he turns when he gets flustered."

"Right. But you might not like the shade of red you turn when Agent Walker catches you coming on to Chuck...again," Daniel said briskly as he stepped up and pulled Vala off of Chuck. "Besides, I need to talk with Chuck about something. Go bother Cam or Teal'c...they're looking for people to play basketball with. Go on...shooo."

"But..." Vala stamped her foot and pouted.

"No. He's not going to play with you. Go on," Daniel said with a long suffering sigh.

"Fine, but this isn't over Chucky. Tootles," Vala blew a kiss to Chuck before she whirled and sauntered out of the lab.

"I'm sorry Chuck," Daniel said as he watched Vala move down the hallway. "She's incorrigible, I know."

"It's okay Doctor Jackson," Chuck said with a relieved sigh. "I'm just glad you came when you did. As annoying as she is, I wouldn't want Vala to get in trouble with Sarah...again."

"Please Chuck, its Daniel. And, you're right; I don't think I've ever seen anyone steal and throw a knife quite as fast as Agent Walker can, and I'm sure the SF's haven't either."

Righting his chair, Chuck pushed it back to the desk and turned to look at his visitor. "You said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Right, yes. I did," Daniel said with a growing smile. "It just so happens that while we were offworld we found something amazing; some ruins with a very obscure dialect of Ancient. I was thinking it would be the perfect time to try out that new translation program you're writing."

"Really?" Chuck said with shock. "My program? It's just something I'm toying around with...I needed something to occupy my time. Are you sure? It's not really meant for anything serious..."

"Easy Chuck," Daniel said with a chuckle. "I'm sure. I took a look at it after the last batch of changes you made. I think it would be a pretty useful program, especially with the adaptive translation routines you're working on. I ran some tests with some of the more obscure dialects I've been working with and the accuracy is quite impressive. You have a talent for both programming and languages Chuck...you would make a hell of a linguist."

Blushing slightly at the praise, Chuck stepped over to the computer and punched a few keys to bring up the console window housing the code for his program. "Let me just compile the newest version for you...I was making some changes to the sorting routines...trying to speed up the dictionary searches..."

Chuck was a little shocked at the full laugh Daniel let loose as Chuck rambled. When the older man clapped a hand on his shoulder Chuck looked up to see the smile that reached up to Daniel's eyes.

"Oh Sam would love you," Daniel said fondly.

"Sam?"

"Colonel Samantha Carter...Sam," Daniel said wistfully. "She was a member of SG-1 for ten years."

As soon as Daniel said Colonel Carter's name Chuck had a flash that pulled up her service record. After his initial flash Chuck had figured out that the files on the Stargate program in the Intersect were from the NID, and were a little dated. "Uhhh...what happened to her?" Chuck asked hesitantly.

"You don't know?" Daniel asked, knowing that the flash would have had details about Sam's time at the SGC.

"The files the NID had in the Intersect are a little dated...the last thing I have on her is that she returned to the SGC after some time at...Area 51? It's real?" Chuck couldn't contain the excitement in his voice. If only he could tell Morgan! Area 51, aliens, instantaneous trans-planetary travel! It would blow his mind.

"Yeah, it's real," Daniel chuckled again. He recognized the wide eyed wonder he saw in Chuck. He'd seen it in the mirror when he was younger. "Sam came back but about...oh...eight months ago she took over command of an off world expedition. Sam's pretty amazing..."

"I'll say," Chuck said, thinking about the file he saw. "Pilot, astro-physicist, computer programming skills, planet hopping soldier, PhD."

"And that's just the boring stuff," Daniel said with a little smile. "She's beautiful, smart, funny, loves motorcycles, gorgeous, brave..."

The beep of Chuck's computer signifying the completion of the compiling of the program cut Daniel off. "Do you want me to transfer this to one of the laptops for you to take with you?"

"Why don't you transfer it to a laptop for you to take with you?" Daniel said with a grin.

"Pardon me," Chuck said, confused. Take with him?

"Well, the world we found the ruins on is a peaceful world we've had contact with for a number of years. We've got a scientific outpost that's been set up there for three years, the people are...very friendly, and I think you need some time to stretch your legs. It's about as safe as walking around the Springs, and the General agrees. He's currently trying to sell Agent Walker on the idea. I assume she'd be going anywhere you go?"

"Uhhh yeah," Chuck said in shock. "You want me to go..._off world_?"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hmmm...I was really hoping to do the whole off world thing this chapter, but the interaction between Sarah and Chuck was too interesting to skip over. Thanks for all the reviews!

**Chapter 8**

"What?" Sarah asked in shock. Shaking her head she continued in a firm tone. "No, definitely not."

"Sarah," Chuck wheedled. He hadn't really tried wheedling in a while but he was fairly confident it was what he was doing right this instant.

"No Chuck, you cannot go 'off world'," Sarah said firmly, crossing to stand in front of the dresser in her VIP quarters. "And I hate to admit it but I think you're starting to lose your grip on reality if you honestly thought I would allow it."

"What am I? Six?" Chuck snorted. "Seriously Sarah, it's safe. It's just as safe as camping back home. And come on, we could both use a trip to stretch our legs. I haven't seen the sun in three weeks!"

"We never went camping," Sarah stated matter-of-factly. "And Cam and Daniel took us for dinner three days ago!"

"Right," Chuck corrected his argument. "But if we thought of doing it, ummm camping I mean, we could have. Besides, seriously, how much trouble can I get in?"

Sarah opened her mouth to respond and then slowly closed it again, looking at Chuck like he'd grown an extra head. How much trouble could he get in? Was he seriously asking her that question?

"Yes, I'm seriously asking you that Sarah. It's a research post on a peaceful planet. Daniel says they've been there for years, and they've never had an incident. Besides, there will be two gate teams assigned as protection, as well as the security team already in place. That's an awful lot of guns Sarah," Chuck said in a rush. After a heartbeat he lowered his tone into something softer, more personal and continued. "Besides, I'll have you there to back me up Sarah. You've always got my back and nothing bad happens when you're there."

Sarah tried to hold back the snort, she really did. If there was one thing the CIA had taught her it was that a lady did not snort, unless snorting was a way to get the mark to do what you wanted. She failed quite spectacularly though. "Bad things _always_ happen around you Chuck, it doesn't matter who is with you. With our luck we'll run into the Intergalactic branch of Fulcrum."

Chuck could feel Sarah's resolve weakening, and he knew that it was almost the perfect time to turn on the puppy dog eyes. She was never able to resist when he turned the hounds loose. As he felt the muscles around his eyes loosening so that he could hit her with both barrels he saw her shoulders tense up.

"Don't even try it Chuck. I'm not going to let you manipulate me into letting you get yourself killed on some other planet, puppy dog eyes or no. You've got another thing coming, buster, if you think I'm going to explain to Ellie how I let her idiotic brother die on some backwater planet with a research outpost just because wanted to stretch his legs. No sir, not this time."

***

"Alright campers," Cam walked into the Gateroom with a big grin on his face and P90 cradled in his arms. "This is what I'm talking about!"

Chuck adjusted the rucksack he was wearing with a big smile. He couldn't believe he'd talked Sarah into going to bat with the Generals to allow them on this trip. And now he was going to be going off world. To another honest-to-god planet. Try as he might, Chuck was unable to stop from shifting his feet, he was so excited. "This is so awesome," he whispered to Sarah as she stood beside him doing her best Casey impersonation. "You're going to love it Sarah, I just know it!"

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Sarah muttered. "There has got to be something seriously wrong with me. Casey's going to kill me when he finds out."

Before Chuck could respond Daniel sauntered into the Gateroom followed by Teal'c and Vala. "Sorry I'm late...had to stop at the armoury and grab this," Daniel said as he extended an oddly shaped holster to Chuck.

"What?" Sarah said when she saw what was happening. Reaching out she took the holster from Daniel before Chuck could. "No way. No guns for him."

"Gee, thanks John," Chuck said sarcastically.

"Chuck, you know what you're like around guns," Sarah sighed, ignoring his jab about her attitude.

The PA system keyed and General Landry said "Sorry Agent Walker, it's SOP. All personnel through the Gate go armed."

"It's the rules," Cam said with a shrug when Sarah looked at him. "It's only a Zat anyway."

Looking at Chuck closely for a moment, Sarah handed over the holster with a sigh. "You wear it, you don't touch it," she admonished Chuck as he hastily snapped the modular holster on.

"Yes, ma'am," Chuck said cheekily.

"Remember Chuck, one shot stuns, two shots kills," Daniel said as he took his place next to the younger man.

"And three shots vaporizes," Cam tossed out with a smirk.

Before Sarah could respond the Gate began to slowly spin, building up speed as it turned.

"Chevron 1 locked," Walter Harriman's voice said over the PA.

Chuck watched the Gate spin in rapt fascination. He'd seen the Gate dialled a fair number of times in his three weeks at the SGC, but being in the Gateroom while it was happening was a whole new ball of wax. Dimly in the background he heard the PA system announce each time a Chevron was locked, and then suddenly the wormhole formed and the backsplash lashed out with a resounding 'ka-woosh'.

"Whoa!" Chuck gasped. "That's...awesome."

"Careful Chuck," Sarah said with a chuckle. "You're starting to sound like Devon."

"But Sarah, that is so....awesome!"

"I admit Chuck, yes that is pretty awesome," Sarah conceded.

Before Chuck could reiterate how awesome the Gate was, the PA triggered again. "SG-1, SG-3, you have a go. Doctor Lee reports sunny weather and no winds."

"Alright kids, let's get this party on the go," Cam said as he strode purposefully up the ramp leading to the Gate. "SG-3, you go through first, we'll take our guests through."

Chuck watched as the Marines that made up SG-3 strode up the ramp and walked into the glowing puddle that was suspended within the Gate. "Wow."

"Yeah," Daniel said as he nudged Chuck towards the ramp. "I know exactly how you feel."

"Does it hurt?" Chuck asked, suddenly worried. "I mean, it breaks us down into atomic particles and then transmits us light years to another Gate, right? That sounds like it would hurt."

"Chuck," Sarah said softly, stepping up beside him.

"Yeah?"

"You've got nothing to freak out about, I'm right here," Sarah said softly.

Nodding resolutely, Chuck took the last couple steps towards the event horizon and stopped. Reaching out he hesitantly pushed a hand through the glowing disc. After a moment his face lit up in a radiant smile and he looked over his shoulder at Sarah. "This is so cool! It doesn't hurt."

Before Sarah could respond Chuck threw himself into the event horizon with a joyous yell of "Awesome!"


End file.
